ATHENS, Ohio—The Ohio baseball team (6-6, 1-1) kicked off Mid-American Conference play with a doubleheader against Northern Illinois (1-12, 1-1) today (March 11). The Bobcats won the first game, 10-2, and fell 9-4 the second game.
"Game one was a heck of a game for us. Kutt settled down and threw sixth straight zeroes and Harbert had two home runs. It was good to see," said head coach
Craig Moore. "In game two, Northern Illinois got ahead first. Baseball is about trying to keep things on your side, and that didn't happen in the second game."
Individually,
Spencer Harbert (Middletown, Del.) led the team with two home runs and six RBIs over the both games. Senior
Colin Kasperbauer (Siuox City, Iowa) and junior
Alex Finney (Oxford, Mich.) both went 3-for-7 while redshirt junior
Xavier Haendiges (Salem, Ind.) finished the day 2-for-5 with a double.
GAME ONE
Northern Illinois struck first, scoring two runs off a single up the middle in the top of the first. Harbert answered in the bottom of the inning with a three-run home run, giving the Bobcats a 3-2 lead.
After a scoreless third, Ohio went to work in the fourth, extending their lead to 8-2. Redshirt freshman
AJ Rausch (Powell, Ohio) kicked things off with a two-RBI single up the middle, followed by an RBI double from redshirt junior
Xavier Haendiges (Salem, Ind.). Ohio wrapped up scoring for the inning when they capitalized on a passed ball and a steal at second. A two-run homer from Harbert in the seventh knocked in the final two runs of the game, solidifying the Bobcats' 10-2 victory.
On the mound, fifth year
Edward Kutt IV (Westlake, Calif.) pitched all seven innings, registering seven strikeouts.
GAME TWO
A Northern Illinois home run put the Bobcats down 1-0 in the first inning. They built on their lead in the second with a two-RBI double, followed by a single up the middle in the top of the third to extend their lead to 5-0.
Back-to-back RBI singles for the Huskies drove in two more runs for the Huskies. In the bottom of the inning, Harbert put the Bobcats on the board with an RBI double. The next at-bat, he scored off a Minzey single. Graduate student
Cael Baker rounded out the scoring with an RBI single to center field, putting the score at 7-3 heading into the fifth inning.
The Huskies bounced back, scoring off a single in the fifth and a fly out in the sixth. In the bottom of the inning, Minzey took advantage of a passed ball and scored, leaving the Bobcats trailing 9-4. Freshmen pitchers
Zach Weber (Lebanon, Ohio) and
Adam Beery (Ravenna, Ohio), held Northern Illinois for the remainder of the game, but Ohio ultimately lost 9-4.
UP NEXT
The Bobcats return to action on Sunday, March 13 for another doubleheader against Northern Illinois. The first pitch of the first game is set for 1 p.m., followed by a 4:30 start time for game two. Both games will be nine innings long.
#OUohyeah
